In-ground LED lights warn cars of approaching cyclists

Telecommunications

BikeScout uses flashing LED lights embedded in the road to warn cars about approaching bikes at a busy intersection.

Urban cyclists can take various precautions to ensure their safety on the road — everything from airbag helmets to wearing invisible glow-in-the-dark spray, but unfortunately they are often still at the mercy of drivers and road design. We have already seen a radar tracker, from South Africa, which lets cyclists know about dangerous traffic approaching from behind, and now, BikeScout is a smart detection system that uses flashing LED lights to warn cars about approaching bikes at a busy intersection in the Netherlands.

BikeScout is currently being piloted near the Meerenakkerweg-Kasteellaan roundabout, in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. The road safety system, designed by Heijmans, uses detection technology to continuously measure and analyze the changing position of individual cyclists up to 50 metres away. It then calculates the time of their approach based on their speed and distance. When a cyclist is imminent, but not necessarily visible, drivers get a warning via flashing LED lights embedded in the road deck.